We Don't Just Play Friends on TV
"Each friend represents a world in us, a world possibly not born until they arrive." - Anaïs Nin
Life imitating TV?
Ever so often I speculate about the unusual experiences that I have been afforded by my career choice. Earlier today, we were filming in a real apartment belonging to some private citizen that allowed our show to rent it out so that we could pretend that it was mine - well, Josie's - apartment.
Tons of people with heavy equipment marched in and out adjusting lights and furniture to make this real home look more "realistic" on camera.
It began to hail for about an hour but we still had to leave many windows and doors open as our crew set up.
When the episode airs, it will be mid-spring, which means sunny days in most places, so we ignored our goosebumps and chattering teeth while pretend to be warm and comfy. It's all part of the job.
Acting like it's springtime.
A few feet away, Tyler [Labine] stood in a doorway, scantily clad while 30 or so strangers watched him talk to Donovan [Stinson]. When this airs, viewers will see Sock and Ted in a mini-showdown at Josie's apartment. It will look real.
I am typing this with a pounding headache and the worst congestion I can recall having in quite sometimes. Allergies. Correction: terrible allergies that have kept me from sleeping for the last few days. Many of my cast mates are sniffling as well. To solve this there's a team of makeup artists who must really display their true artistry and make us "look healthy" despite our red noses.
There is no such thing as calling in sick with this job. The show must always go on. I deliver my lines and forget for a few minutes about the throbbing headache and the inability to breathe through my nose. Minor glitch in a day's work.
Part of "the show" in show business is definitely this need to give the audience what they came to see. As actors, we often have to film in snowstorms wearing swimsuits and "act" warm. Part of the gig. Oh, the glamourous life....
I can't tell you how many people I have had to kiss that I might not have even offered a handshake in reality. This is why they pay us. People always ask how you to do something like that and I never cease to wonder how that question is posed. Everyone I know has someone at work they must "get along with" for the sake of a deadline. In this job, you might have to kiss someone or sit for hours in a car in the cold and pretend to be friends. I have been paid to like people in the past, even if only when the cameras are rolling.
It's hard to believe that a year ago, none of us knew each other.
Sitting at dinner tonight amid many of the show's actors and producers, we all seem to have so much to say to each other. Missy [Peregrym, Andi], Donovan [Ted] and Brett [Harrison, Sam] finish each others' sentences while talking about an upcoming music festival. Rick [Gonzalez, Ben] and I share a smile because we have never heard of many of the obscure alternative bands mentioned. We take turns ribbing Brett about one band he is particularly animated about. At the other end of the table, Ray [Wise, the Devil] and Christine [Willes, the DMV demon] chat with [producers] Tom Spezialy, Tom Schnauz and JP Finn about world politics and Ken Marino's [demon Tony] fainting spell.
Tonight I was struck by one underlying sentiment that was repeated universally: how parts of our pretend world have become a bit of a reality. Both Missy and Christina mentioned the fact that "we don't just play friends on TV."
We all have such distinctly different personalities, as do our characters, and yet we all seem to complement each other, kinda the way good friendships do in real life.
I would say that on a show like this, the rapport of the crew, writers, producers and actors only seems to get stronger as the show goes on. The episodes get more exciting; the writing and the production get slicker and quicker.
In this fictional world of
Reaper, about a group of friends who hunt escaped souls from hell and deal with mythical elements daily, something truly magical is happening....
Watch tonight at 9 pm and see if you get any sense that this episode was shot in the blistering cold of December in Vancouver, by a group of real friends.
